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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24133870">come take a walk on the wild side</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight'>theriveroflight</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bad Things Happen Card Fills [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>RWBY</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon Compliant, Character Study, Death, Gen, Heavy Angst, Lowercase, POV Second Person, Sad Ending, Suicidal Thoughts, Volume 3 (RWBY)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 17:13:59</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,025</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24133870</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/theriveroflight/pseuds/theriveroflight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>you are bound to die. as all are, but most live in ignorance as death lurks in the shadows, eventually pouncing like a beowulf in the forest.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jaune Arc/Pyrrha Nikos</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bad Things Happen Card Fills [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1543747</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Bad Things Happen Bingo</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>come take a walk on the wild side</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>first rwby fic, and it's angst? yep, sounds accurate</p>
<p>→ title from "born to die" by lana del rey.</p>
<p>read the tags for warnings, and don't feel bad if you can't read this fic! please do not trigger yourself on purpose!</p>
<p>this was written for the "Major Character Death" square on my Bad Things Happen Bingo card.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>you live as most children do - at least at first. to turn thirteen in remnant is an accomplishment. it isn't long after you unlock your semblance that you discover you have a talent for fighting - and your parents hone that so you have a meteoric rise into the spotlight as a warrior of the colosseum. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>they all want you to live.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>but you are bound to die. as all are, but most live in ignorance as death lurks in the shadows, eventually pouncing like a beowulf in the forest.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you realize it for the first time in an arena, going up against another professional fighter. it’s not your first time fighting - you were too afraid those initial few times to realize. to realize that doing this will kill you eventually.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>but you are pyrrha nikos, and you are bound to the blade. a warrior, first and foremost - above all else.</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>you will die long before your heart stops beating.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>fame will be what kills you.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>the pain of being known never heals. the pain of assumptions festers within you.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>the glare of cameras all over. the way your combat gear evolves to be less practical and more...appealing. you can fight in the heels, it’s true - but only </span>
  <em>
    <span>after </span>
  </em>
  <span>training with them outside of normal hours, adapting to how they feel to fight in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>everyone thinks they know you. they don’t.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you die thousands of times in your dreams.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>a fellow hunter’s blade, a grimm’s teeth or talons or claws, a sickness, a poison. it doesn’t matter. it isn’t permanent. it doesn't hold the same weight as it does in reality. as much as you wish it did sometimes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>and if you wake up several times a night, dreams of dying still stuck in your brain, you don’t mention it. makeup covers the dark circles, after all. as long as it’s under control, it's okay.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(and if when you wake up after each one, it disappoints you, you don't talk about it.)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you start training at beacon. you’ve had to fight to become a huntress, but it’s always been your dream. and with your reputation any academy would kill to have you. you choose beacon because you’re from vale, and it’s closer to your family.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>even if your family started you on this path, you still appreciate what they’ve done for you.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you meet him in the forest. your </span>
  <em>
    <span>partner. </span>
  </em>
  <span>and he doesn’t seem very confident, but in the battlefield he shifts into someone with a mind for strategy, for knowing the enemy.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you are not appointed team leader. you will be forever grateful for that. leading is not your “thing.” fighting might be, but leadership skills elude you still.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>your team makes you reconsider seeking death with their kindness. but it is too late. the path you walk has been decided since long before you met them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you remind yourself that everyone is born into eventual death. you’ve always just been more aware of the facts. so why does it bother you so much now?</span>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
  <span>you will die soon.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you have known of your own mortality for a long time, of course, but it is certain when he asks you to take half of the fall maiden powers.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>they all say it’s your choice. but they say it in a way that tells you that they need you.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>so in the end, you really don’t have a choice.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you will die. and it will come soon.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you think about saying no, but if you say no someone less suited to the concept of mortality will take your place.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>and really, you’ve always known. you've always had that constant thrum in the back of your head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>dying early is inevitable for someone like you.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>and that doesn’t scare you. it hasn’t for a long time. so you accept, knowing it’ll kill you.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you may no longer plead for death through your dreams, but you are far from ignorant of it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you fight with jaune. you try and burn your bridges so that they don't miss you. you end up crumbling in front of him. you can’t bear to see him hurt. and to burn that bridge you have to hurt him. but leaving will hurt him too.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>dying. come on. you know better than to sugarcoat death, when it's been part of your reality and your fantasy for so long.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>(and what of the rest of your team? what is jnpr without the p?)</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you don’t mean to hurt penny - not as badly as you ended up hurting her. (it’s a fight, someone always has to get hurt.) it only occurs later that it was a hallucination. that the threat wasn’t real. but grimm are swooping down on the city. and you need to make a stand. but you still get the feeling that tonight is the night.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>they take you back to that cursed basement, where the maiden is kept in stasis. now or never. you know that this is where beacon will fall. and so do they.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>they offer you another chance to make the wrong choice. but this is it. if you fail, evil wins. you climb into the pod. the technology starts working its way into you. the foreign power feels invasive and </span>
  <em>
    <span>wrong-</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>and then she shows up. cinder comes for the power transferring into you. the mechanism breaks as the maiden falls. and the power falls away from you, no longer squirming around in your own aura.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you are strong even without, though, and so you go on. you have to take her down. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>you fight. you use your semblance more than you ever have before, and you almost win against her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>but in the end it doesn’t matter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>almost isn’t enough.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>and maybe, in a roundabout way, your own knowledge of your mortality caused your death right now. by knowing, you’ve caused it to come sooner by sacrificing yourself. or maybe that’s the part of yourself that wanted to die.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>your destiny has always been to die.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>and you have always believed in death. ergo, fate is just a part of that. however... </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“do you believe in destiny?”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Follow me online:<br/>alto-tenure - main Tumblr<br/>the-river-of-light - visual art Tumblr<br/>beunforgotten - writing Tumblr<br/>riiveroflight - Twitter</p></blockquote></div></div>
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